Unchained

Since 1st May Em and I have been engaged in our own little social project called Brisbane Unchained.

In principal the aim is to try and shop for one month - May - from independent stores, basically not large chains, hence Unchained.

We're blogging about it at: brisbaneunchained.blogspot.com

Suffice to say, it is not easy. Especially when you're lazy.

Innovations for Novated Leases

So, as we approach the end of the FBT year many holders of novated leases will be out and about trying to ensure that their nominated KM values are met so that they don't incur any penalties in relation to FBT. Now I have no idea who Fringe is and why he or she benefits, because I certainly don't seem to. This notion that it is more tax effective the further an individual dries is slightly at odds with a society where economy and environmental concern is increasing at the fore. Yes it makes some sense that an individual should be able to use the vehicle - pun intended - of a novated lease to own a car through an employer as there are many benefits to the macro-economy in supporting this; overall newer cars are more economical and typically safer. However the government should not be using federal tax policy to reward increased car use. I don't begin to claim to understand the full picture here and i am sue a more enlightened individual would be able to pick holes in my argument. It just seems illogical to me to encourage increased car use when it appears that vast tracts of other government policy is aimed at the opposite. Soap box away.

A Family Outing

As I entered my last week of paternity leave, I wanted to ensure that
I'd be leaving the home in a good state for when the good lady is home
alone and also that we had taken the opportunity to spend some time
together.

Not wanting to put to much pressure on the wife - as any outing would
mean her having to confront the requirement to feed in public for the
first time - I was keen to go out and get somewhere that appealed to
us both.

So it was to Mt Tamborine Brewery and Witches Falls Cheese Factory
that we went. A destination to offer something to us both.

Fairly easy to get to, exiting the pacific highway from Beenleigh
South, it's then a fairly picturesque 20m drive through fairly
pleasant country, including a nice climb up into the 'mountain' itself.

So the beer, for $10 I had a sampler tray of four beers:
American Pale Ale - 3.3% - lovely light pale ale, floral aromas and on
the palette
Czech Pilsener - 5% - nice crisp pils with slightly bitter palette
Black Cockatoo - 4.8% - lovely German style schwarzbier, with a bit of
caramel and chocolate
India Pale Ale - 6.5% - heavy in the hops, great example of an IPA

All these were great accompaniments to a Wagyu burger! The mrs having
a goats cheese tart with caramelised onions. The cheese was curd from
the associated Witches Falls.

This was to be the limit of our day out, however someone recommended
visiting Witches Falls Winery. The individual in question works in the
wind industry so I was fairly certain that it would be a good
recommendation - my faith was repaid.

The cellar door was nicely laid out. The member of staff in hand was
excellent, very knowledgable about the wines, their styles and also
their technical aspects. It turns out she us studying part-time at
CSU. She led us through a range of whites, reds and some dessert
wines. The stand outs for us were: Fiano, Verdelho, wild ferment
Chardonnay, Syrah, Grenache and a sem/ sav botrytis.

A very worthwhile visit - and our girls first winery. Certainly not
her last I am sure.

Terroir

If I recall correctly, one of my first posts on this blog made mention of the notion of terroir (pronounced teh-wah). I think at the time I believed it to be a French concept, not just a French word, a concept to add yet more mystique to their industry and a notion designed to eke a few more Euros out of the consumer of their wines.

Terroir is about a sense of place. A series of variables that all contribute to making a wine what it is. To paraphrase leading wine writer Huon Hooke from a book published in 1997 called Words on Wine, terroir is a series of factors that makes each wine unique and unable to be copied anywhere else in the world. For, to me, terroir is amongst other things about the climate, the soil structure, the micro-climate for an individual site on an individual block of an individual vineyard.

It is this that leads me to comment on this subject. In today's Australian Magazine (23rd/ 24th January 2010), James Halliday writes about the Shiraz Bledisloe, or the Hawkes Bay Syrah Challenge. This is a challenge in which Syrah from Hawkes Bay, NZs leading Syrah region with two thirds of its national planted total for that varietal, is pitted against Shiraz from Mornington Peninsula and Yarra Valley.

Now, I have some beef with this comp. For a start 85% of the red crush in Mornington Peninsula is of Pinot Noir and in the Yarra Valley, Shiraz is cited as the third principal red grape variety, after Pinot Noir Cabernet Sauvignon (taken from Halliday's Wine Atlas of Australia) . Further Halliday cites that the "choice of Australian regions was based on the similarity of the climate of the three regions". To link this to the title of this post, climate is just one contributory factor that makes a wine what it is. What little I know of Hawkes Bay - I have been and sampled some of the regions delights - one of the key features of the region are the alluvial plains with their famed 'gravels', something I believe neither the Yarra Valley nor Mornington Peninsula possess. This comp to me is a little like challenging the champ - my perception is that Shiraz is Australia's champ variety - to a bout in a discipline in which it is not. To me the Mornington Peninsula does Pinot Noir very well and the Yarra Valley is Chardonnay. Yes, they both represent other varietals well but an Aussie Shiraz contender should come from the Barossa, Canberra, Hunter Valley or McLaren Vale.

I am not disputing the quality of Hawkes Bay Syrah, or its wines in general for it could be said that it's 'Bordeaux' are even more supreme, but that, to pit them against Australia they should be pitched fairly against Australia's best. As to what Australia's best is I'll leave that to someone far more knowledgable than I.

Wine

Before any Strines reading this proclaim: "Typical Pom, always
whining" I am of course talking about matters vinous.
When I came to Australia, I set myself the objective of only drinking
Australian wine, more specifically Barossan Shiraz. I certainly took
to this task with zeal and was able to pursue this objective further with
a trip to the Barossa in Feb '09, along with the good lady and some
dear friends.
However, over 2009 I think it fair to say that I probably learnt more
about Australian wine than I had over the previous years. This was
largely thanks to extensive research for my aforementioned trip with
such resources as Taste by Messrs Jukes and Stelzer, James Halliday's
Wine Companion and latterly WineFront run by Gary Walsh and Campbell
Mattinson.
Now, this for me has only served to confuse further. Whereas with
drinking Barossan, I knew what I was getting, opening myself up to all
these other delights from across the country has led to my poor
palate being confused. Quite simply, I cannot get enough of the
stuff. I even developed vinsomnia (a self created term for the lack of
sleep caused by constant thought about wine) - it could get quite
unhealthy.
I have gotten to the point where I don't know what my 'style' is: do I
explore all these other wonderful regions? Do I go back to my first
love, the Barossa? Do I need an answer now? Or do I just enjoy the
journey and work out the destination when I get to it?
I feel a bit like the characters in Jack Kerouac's On The Road. To
me, in this book, they seem to spend the time zig-zagging across the
country, back and forth, back and forth. This is how I feel about my
desires for wine. I want to drink some from WA, maybe a Chardonnay;
then a pinot from Mornington Peninsula; a traditional jammy Shiraz
from the Barossa; a Riesling from Clare; a Semillon from the Hunter.
End result=confused boy!
So there is only one thing for it. Research. Thus the wine regions
that I would like to visit are:
1) Hunter Valley: semillons from lovely sandy/ loamy soils; hunter
Shiraz to see what that is all about.
2) Canberra: home of Australia's best Shiraz Viognier; cool climate
Shiraz; and some Riesling.
3) Orange: cooler climate region, home to some good Chardonnay, Sav
Blanc and even some cider.
4) Mornington Peninsula: Pinot Noir for me!
5) Victoria: too many regions to contemplate: Beechworth, Heathcote
and Bendigo, Yarra Valley.
6) Margaret River: Australia's answer to Bordeaux?
7) Barossa Valley: a return to my first true love!
So there's plenty to keep me occupied there, just hope the nipper
likes road trips!